


A Red Letter Day

by astudyinfic



Series: Flash Bang #1 (Indigo Team) [11]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Lost letters, M/M, SO MUCH FLUFF, Wrong address, fluff queen reigns again, meet cute, misplaced mail
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-22
Updated: 2018-04-22
Packaged: 2019-04-26 10:32:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14400300
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/astudyinfic/pseuds/astudyinfic
Summary: When the first letter arrives, Magnus thinks nothing of it.  Letters get sent to the wrong place all the time.  But when they continued to arrive, every few days and all directed to the same name, Magnus knew he needed to get them to the real recipient.Hopefully this Alec Lightwood would be understanding.Square #19: Meet Cute





	A Red Letter Day

The day the first letter arrived, Magnus thought nothing of it. Mail gets addressed wrong all the time, so of course, he would get someone’s post on occasion. Most likely someone was out there getting his letters periodically as well. Resolving to return the letter to the sender in the next few days, Magnus set it on the table next to his front door and promptly forgot about it. 

Whoever this Alec Lightwood was, he could wait a couple days. 

The next letter arrived that weekend when Magnus had the time to actually look at it more closely. It was definitely his own address and the childlike handwriting made him convinced that whoever this M. Lightwood was in upstate New York, he or she couldn’t have been more than twelve. Probably wrote down the wrong address for whom?  Grandfather? Cousin? Dare he hope, an attractive older brother? Whoever he was, Alec now missed out on two letters so Magnus knew he needed to get them back to the sender so they could get the right address for him. 

Except he forgot again. In his defense, his job was often stressful and by the time he got home, Magnus was far more likely to watch Netflix than actually try and get the post office to get the mess figured out. 

Besides, they were just a couple letters. Surely he wasn’t causing anyone too much hassle. 

It went on like that for almost a month. Every other day or so, a letter would arrive for Alec Lightwood from M. Lightwood.  And just like every other time, Magnus added it to the rapidly growing stack of envelopes. When the collection started to approach twenty, Magnus stuffed them all in his bag with the intention of going to the post office that day, no matter what.  This was getting out of control and if he didn't stop it now, he would be overrun with envelopes.  And if they weren't letters from Hogwarts, he didn't want that.

When he left work, that idea was still at the forefront of his mind so he took a circuitous route home, ending up a few blocks from his own building in search of the post office he knew to be around there somewhere, even if he couldn’t seem to find it. 

Stopping at a building that would most likely have a bellhop, Magnus walked towards the door before realizing the building had the same address as his own, the street number the only difference. The chance seemed small but Magnus moved to the directory by the door to see, if by chance this building had a PH1 and if it did, who lived there. 

Fate, they say, works in mysterious ways, and Magnus found that out first hand when next to the number for PH1 was the name A. Lightwood.  Apparently, he wouldn’t need the post office after all. 

Pressing the call button, he dialed the number for PH1, not at all surprised when a man answered.  “Hello?” 

“Yes, we don’t know each other but I think I’ve been getting your mail by mistake and I thought I might be able to give it to you?  It’s from an M. Lightwood and there are probably twenty letters here.” If someone was writing him that much, Magnus figured Alec would want them.  They had to be important.

There was a pause on the other end and Magnus thought maybe he disconnected before the man spoke once more, “I wondered what was happening to those.  I’ll be right down.”

Pulling the letters from his bag, Magnus sorted them into what he thought was the order he’d received them in.  Despite how nice the voice on the other end had been, Magnus knew for a fact those intercoms distorted them to the point they were almost unrecognizable, which meant that if this man sounded young and attractive, he was probably in his eighties, happily married, and maybe even a raging racist to boot. 

When an elderly man approached the door from inside, Magnus sighed, resigned to give him the letters from his grandchild and move on with his life.  “Alec Lightwood?” he asked to which the man just scowled and kept walking. “Pleasure meeting you too, sir!” Magnus called after him, perpetually annoyed at people who couldn’t be bothered with basic human decency.  

“Don’t pay any attention to him,” a voice sounded behind him, the same one Magnus heard on the intercom.  “He’s such an ass.” Magnus barely had time to marvel at how good of a speaker system this building had before he turned and was met by the most beautiful man he’d ever seen.  Legs for miles and hair that seemed to defy gravity, a teasing smile and the warmest hazel eyes Magnus had ever seen. “I’m Alec. Are you the one who called me about my brother’s letters?”

Magnus blinked, shocked that his original hopes had come true.  Though,  _ attractive older brother _ didn’t even begin to cover it.  “Yes, sorry, I’m Magnus. I should have brought these to you weeks ago but life got in the way.  I hope you and your brother can forgive me?” 

“I can,” Alec teased, “but Max is mad at me because I accused him of not loving me as much as the other two who got letters every other day.  He’ll probably hold a grudge for awhile.”

“As long as his gorgeous brother is okay with it, I think I’ll survive, darling.”  He was rewarded with a delicious blush on those sharp cheekbones and Magnus knew then and there that he wanted to climb the man like a tree.  “You might want to tell him you live on 31st and not 35th though. Just a thought.”

Alec flipped through the letters and groaned when he saw that Magnus’ address was indeed on every single envelope.  “I’ll talk to him. I’m sorry about that.”

“I’m not,” Magnus smiled.  “It gave me an excuse to meet  _ you _ .  He can keep sending me letters all he wants if it means that maybe you’ll get a drink with me sometime?”

“I...I’d like that.  Though...” Magnus wondered what the catch was.  I’m straight. I have a partner. I’m secretly a serial killer who only wants to add your eyes to my collection.  “I don’t really have anything going on right now. Would you like to come up for a drink? You did come all this way, after all.”

“I’d love that.”

* * *

The world worked in strange ways, Magnus mused a year later as they moved all of Alec’s things into his loft.  Alec never did tell Max to change the address. 

And now, twelve months after the first one arrived, the letters were finally coming to the right place.  The home of Alec and Magnus soon-to-be Lightwood-Bane.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Come yell at me on tumblr at [brooklynxmagic](http://brooklynxmagic.tumblr.com) or [astudyinfic](http://astudyinfic.tumblr.com)


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